The MSRC’s Rideshare Thursday campaign launched last month and is already a hit with Southern Californians. With summer now over and people heading back to work and school, Southern California’s roadways have gotten much more crowded - gone are the days of summer-lite traffic. This was the perfect time for the MSRC to launch its Rideshare Thursday campaign to rally commuters to get out of their individual cars and into carpools and vanpools, and onto bicycles and mass transit to help save money on gas, reduce the stress from driving, and reduce traffic and pollution. In early September, the media blitz began, with clever radio spots and interactive online messaging encouraging drivers to “Drive Less. Smile More” by ridesharing.
“The goal of the Rideshare Thursday campaign is to generate more awareness about ridesharing to get solo drivers to commute via carpool, bus, rail, bike or walking, not just on Thursday -traditionally the busiest day during peak periods for car traffic - but on any day of the week,” explained Greg Pettis, Chair of the MSRC. “Ridesharing takes cars off the road, and less cars mean less air pollution, which furthers the mission of the MSRC.”
LA KINGS HALL OF FAMER LUC RUBITAILLE PROMOTES SCORING A “GOAL” BY RIDESHARING
A cornerstone of the campaign is the MSRC’s partnership with the Los Angeles Kings. Former Kings player, Hall of Famer, and current President of Business Operations Luc Robitaille is featured in a public service announcement pointing out how hockey and being stuck in traffic are both about making the right move, and ridesharing is the best move commuters can make. The Rideshare Thursday PSA is on the Kings Vision website. The spot will run before all regular season home games on the Jumbotron, in digital ads, and on the Kings’ Facebook page.
There will be a Rideshare Thursday blast during a special Kings’ Thursday night home game including messaging on the Jumbotron, PA announcements, as well as other in-stadium promotions. During the season there will be a series of promotions and opportunities for fans to be rewarded for ridesharing to games. Rideshare Thursday also will be promoted on LED billboard displays outside the stadium, ads in the Kings’ e-newsletters, and banner ads on the Kings’ websites.
In addition to the Kings promotion, the campaign is made up of several dynamic elements including traditional and online radio spots, traffic reporter promotions, digital advertising, a website landing page (RideshareThursday.com), and a Facebook page (Facebook.com/RideShareThursday).
To best reach drivers, the campaign heavily targets local broadcast and internet radio stations with a fun, upbeat jingle directing people to RideshareThursday.com to learn more about ways “to put less stress on you and your wallet.” The radio spots are running on nine Clear Channel FM and AM stations and also on the online platforms Pandora, iHeart Radio and CBS Radio. The spots are available on the MSRC’s website at http://www.cleantransportationfunding.org/info_center/drive_smart#ridesharing.
The digital animated ads feature catchy slogans like, “less gas money - more lunch money,” and “diamond lanes are a girl’s best friend,” which are being displayed on news sites, the SigAlert and Weather Channel websites, and Facebook.
In just the first few weeks, the Rideshare Thursday messaging already has resulted in more than 32,000 visits to the RideshareThursday.com website and created nearly 1,200 Facebook fans. The campaign has reached more than 467,000 unique individuals who have been exposed to Rideshare Thursday on Facebook. The digital media components including streaming audio, display banners, Facebook ads and search engine marketing has made more than 40 million impressions.
The campaign will run through November 17, with Rideshare Week (October 7-11) taking place during the height of the campaign. Elements of the campaign, including the Kings’ promotion and the campaign’s Facebook presence, will run longer to encourage as many people as possible to rideshare.